<p>I got a 1920 on my PSATs last year and was chosen as a NASF (I was shocked). I received a 1950 SAT, I did significantly better on the ACTs. I have good ECs, a 3.89/4.45 UW/W GPA and I sent around my essay to every English teacher in the school and received great feedback. </p>
<p>I'm going the The University of Alabama in the fall and am majoring in Chemical Engineering, and have received a great scholarship already, but if I were to be named a Finalist, my scholarship award would be: full tuition, free housing for the first year, 3500 a year, a $2000 study abroad stipend and an iPad. That would bring a $37,000 OOS cost down to about $2000, which is huge. </p>
<p>Do you think I have decent odds? I know that I have an 80% chance of selection, but it wouldn't be fun to be in that 20%...</p>
<p>cassidyr: I am not well-versed in NASF results, but my informed intuition tells me your odds are highly favorable (ACT’s won’t count in finalist decisions, BTW). Congratulations and good luck.</p>
<p>just adding… if still looking …especially alabama… as a a national achievement scholar… uab (birmingham) will give you tuition, FOUR years of housing and a 2500 stipend.</p>
<p>I think you have an excellent chance at making Finalist. The big decider is the GPA and SAT, and your GPA is fine, and I think your SAT is fine for NA Finalist.</p>
<p>Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Great! I go to a tiny private school that’s fairly young (there are less than 200 in the high school) and I’m the first to get any sort of National Merit recognition so it would be a huge deal not just for me but for my school as well if I was able to get to the Finals… So basically as long as your SATs are on par with PSATS you’re good?</p>
<p>Usually there is a minimum SAT that all must get. For NMSF, the minimum is about 1960. for NASF, I’m nearly certain that the required minimum SAT that all NASFs must get is lower. So, a 1950 should be fine.</p>
<p>Also…for your SAT…what is your M+CR score? </p>
<p>What is the Multiple Choice SUBSCORE for your Writing section? </p>
<p>Are you going to apply to Alabama? You’d get free tuition for 4 years, free housing for frosh year, and other goodies. Bama enrolls a lot of Nat’l Merit and Nat’l Achievement Finalists.</p>
<p>I had a 1280 CR+M and a 670 Writing
I did apply to Bama, got in and am about 99.9% sure I’m going! Hahah</p>
<p>Lol…I was looking on my phone and forgot that you’ve applied to Bama…good. Welcome!</p>
<p>Have you visited Bama’s forum here on CC?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/</a></p>
<p>On your 670 Writing score…what was the SUBSCORE for the multiple choice. It will be a two digit number.</p>
<p>The multiple choice was a 65 with a 9 essay</p>
<p>Can you take the Dec SAT? the deadline to sign up may be soon.</p>
<p>Also, tomorrow call NMCorp and ask what the minimum SAT score is needed for NA Finalists.</p>
<p>(847) 866-5100</p>
<p>I called this afternoon and the man I spoke to at the NMF and he told me that the scores that I have are “qualifying scores”. I have a good GPA too, so I hope I’m good…he seemed to think so</p>
<p>cassidy…Congrats on achieving NASF status!! Just to make sure, have you and your school already accomplished all the steps necessary to complete your Semifinalist package(Letter of Rec, Transcript, Essay, etc.)? Since you mentioned your essay in the OP, I’m assuming you have but if not you need to get those steps done ASAP. You also need to send your SAT score to NMSC (code #0085) so they have it on record. It seems from your phone conversation with them that your current score is high enough to count as a “validating” score, but you still need to send it to them as part of the process. Here’s a link to the requirements if you don’t have a hard copy to reference.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Ach_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Ach_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>Although a somewhat lower percentage of NA Semifinalists make Finalist compared to NM program (1,300 Finalists from 1,600 Semifinalists in NA) I’d imagine the same reasons exist for the majority of those 300 who don’t make Finalist. In the NM program, those that don’t make Finalist are usually due to not filling out the Semifinalist packet properly, not sending SAT scores, etc. A few don’t move on due to disciplinary issues, lower than required GPA, etc. but it sounds like you’ve already cleared those hurdles. I think you have an excellent chance of achieving Finalist status. I believe the notification timeline for NA program is late January. </p>
<p>Have you already selected Bama as your first-choice college with NMSC? If not, there is a website listed towards the bottom of the pdf document linked above where you can change your selection. Once you’ve been confirmed as a Finalist and you have Bama listed as your first-choice, they’ll upgrade your existing scholarship offer to reflect the full NAF package. Congrats again on your success so far, and good luck in progressing to Finalist status!!</p>
<p>Cassidy…It looks like you’re good to go. Does your school have to do anything? send transcripts?</p>
<p>Also…you need to send your SAT score to NMCorp…code 0085</p>
<p>Let us know if there are any other questions.</p>
<p>Yeah we’ve got all the necessary information in, the deadline was October 12th. I sent my scores right around then too. My guidance counselor even called to double check. On the application, I listed Alabama as my future school if that’s it means to list it as my 1st choice…</p>
<p>Wolverine, what did you mean by NA having slightly smaller chances? I was told about 80% make it to the finals…</p>
<p>cassidy…For NM Semifinalist to Finalist cut, 15,000 out of 16,000 SFs progress to F status (about 93.75%). According to the NMSC website, 1,600 are selected as NA Semifinalist of which 1,300 make Finalist status (about 81.25%). It’s just my guess, but my thinking was that the reasons the majority of those 300 NASFs don’t make Finalist is the same reasons that NMSFs don’t make Finalist…those being the reasons I listed in the other post. From what the NMSC rep told you when you spoke to them I’d strongly suspect you’ll make Finalist. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait until the end of January and watch for a letter in the mail to absolutely confirm it.</p>
<p>does anyone know the cutoff for NASF in new jersy. or any other scores that made it from this region</p>
<p>Does anyone know previous years PSAT scores for African American students that received National Achievement Semi-Finalist status and resided in New York State?</p>